


Straight through my heart

by luxshine



Category: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-22
Updated: 2011-03-22
Packaged: 2017-10-17 05:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/173171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxshine/pseuds/luxshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world were vampires are real, you’ve got to be really careful to whom you offer your heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Straight through my heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [poetrychik](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=poetrychik).



> I’m sorry it took so long, but RL didn’t want to cooperate. This was written originally for Help Haiti, for poetrychik

"I love you."

As soon as the words left Lance's mouth, Kevin felt his world shatter. It was always like this, no matter how hard he tried or how much he wished his luck would change. Sure, today, Lance said that he loved him. But in a few weeks, the blond man who had so captured Kevin's heart would be going away.

"Don't say that," Kevin said, trying to keep his voice even and his 'cold' facade in place. "I told you, I don't do relationships."

Which was not really true. But it had been the only way in which Kevin had managed to keep on living the way he was, just keeping 'friends with benefits' from time to time, never having someone close who could break his heart *again*. But Lance had managed to break through the ice, making Kevin *almost* regret his choice. For three months, Kevin had almost been happy for the first time in his entire existence.

And now Lance was taking it all away with three simple words.

* * *

Kevin disliked the atmosphere at the Bloody Rose club. In the year since the owner had changed the name from 'Dancing Rose' to 'Gloomy Rose’, and finally to ‘Bloody Rose' the club had filled up with goth "scene" kids, all dressed in black, velvet and lace, with long hair and white pasty faces. At first, Kevin had played into the whole thing, and he had to admit that he had enjoyed having everyone's attention and the pick of a different guy or girl every day. But as the nights passed, and he realized that no one really looked past his looks and mysterious persona, he grew bored with every single one of them. Six months in, he no longer picked dates. He still had sex, of course, but no one ever graced his apartment. He only had quickies in the bathroom or, sometimes, in his car.

It all had changed the night he met Lance.

It had been his free night, but he had decided to go to the Bloody Rose anyway. His cousin Brian would be there, and so would his friend Nick, always hunting, always looking for new prey. Kevin thought that maybe Nick was overdoing it, that he really didn't need the reputation of being the city's manslut, but even so, he refrained from commenting. After all, Kevin had acted the same way when he was Nick's age. He had no right to criticize.

He had been nursing his beer when he spotted a blonde guy who definitely didn't look like he belonged in the club. He was dressed in a white polo shirt, jeans, and had his hair styled in a fauxhawk, a new trend that Kevin simply didn't understand. The guy didn't even have a beer in his hand, adding to the whole 'not belonging here' vibe. He was looking around, a cross between scared and lost, and Kevin figured he was looking at a 'v-curious' on his first trip to the Bloody Rose.

An idiot who had a very warped idea of what a vampire was, thanks to novels like Interview with the Vampire, or worse, Twilight.

He got the barman’s attention and ordered a second beer. Maybe the kid was a wannabe, maybe he was accompanying a friend who was a wannabe. Or maybe he was just lost.  
With the extra beer in one hand, Kevin walked towards the blond man. Lost or not, he had become Kevin’s chosen distraction for the night.

“Hello,” he said, using his best casual voice. He had seen kids like this one before, who spooked easily if anyone in the club talked to them, so he approached the blond as one approached a scared lamb. Slowly and without any sudden moves. “You look like you could use a drink.”

The man looked at him with a calculating look that was far from the scared newcomer that Kevin thought that he was. But it was gone in a flash, and his face lit up, as if he was actually glad that someone there was talking to him.

“Thanks,” the man said, taking the offered beer. “I was honestly scared of going to the bar.”

As if to explain himself better, he pointed to the bar where a group of the usual costumers were talking to the barman. One of them, a tall woman with dark hair was actually biting her partner on the neck, while everyone cheered. Kevin shook his head in distaste. They were wannabes and posers, all of them just wanting to call attention to themselves. Kevin seriously doubted there was one real vampire among them.

“They’re pretty harmless,” he said instead, smiling. “You came here alone?”

Instead of answering, the guy started to laugh discreetly.

“That’s the worst line I’ve ever heard,” the guy said after a while, taking a sip of his beer. “But I can see why it works for you.”

“Wasn’t supposed to be a line,” Kevin smiled. He found that he liked the guy’s honesty. Even if he still looked out of place, he wasn’t a pushover like many of the curious, yuppie kids that ended up in the Bloody Rose. “My name is Kevin.”

“I’m Lance,” the other man offered his hand, still smiling. “And no, I didn’t come alone, but I don’t think my friends will notice if I’m not with them.”

To prove his point, Lance pointed out to a corner of the bar, where four guys were hitting on the waitresses. Unlike Lance, they were dressed to fit the club, and Kevin was almost sure he had seen some of them in previous nights. One of them, a tall man with a beard and spiky hair turned to see where Lance was and waved at him, before turning his attention back to the girl he was talking to.

“I see,” Kevin drank from his beer, before turning his attention back to Lance. “So, would you like to hear some more bad lines?”  
Lance had smiled, and that had been the beginning of the end for Kevin.

* * *

Although Kevin had thought that Lance would only be a one night distraction, he found himself calling him one week later on his free night and agreeing to go out somewhere ‘that was not the creepy club where we met’, in Lance’s words.

So that night, Kevin found himself as out of place as Lance had been the night before: At a sports bar, where not a single velvet shirt could be seen. Even though he had dressed casually for the night, with his dark jeans and his wine red turtleneck shirt he stood out in the crowd; Lance had found that incredibly amusing even if he disliked the way in which Kevin attracted the eye of many of the women and men in the bar.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Kevin said after his second drink, watching Lance intently. “But I think I like this better than the Bloody Rose.”

Lance chuckled, taking a small sip of his drink. “I didn’t expect that, you look like you’re at home at the Bloody Rose all the time.”

“I just grew used to it, that’s all.” Kevin sighed. “It wasn’t like that before.”

“It wasn’t?” Lance asked, curious, which made Kevin smile. It was yet another thing that made Lance so different from his usual one night stands. The others didn’t want to know that the Bloody Rose, like so many other clubs in the city, had changed its image to accommodate the new trend, the “vampire life style.” It ruined the fantasy for them, a fantasy that Kevin was glad to encourage but at the same time, had grown weary of. Lance didn’t care about fantasies, he seemed more interested in the reality behind that.

One of the things he liked the most about Lance was that the young man lived completely in the present. He never talked about anything that happened before they had met, except in very vague generalities. In fact, Kevin knew very little about Lance.

On the other hand, Lance didn't know a lot about Kevin's past, and Kevin liked it that way. It was a nice bubble they created, where nothing mattered except the present.

Kevin hadn't introduced Lance to his friends, afraid of their reaction, since Lance was so different from them. And he had no interest in meeting Lance's friends, especially not if they were the vampire wannabes he had seen that first day at the Bloody Rose.

Ironically, if someone else had described the relationship he and Lance had, Kevin would've seen some red flags. But it was hard to see them when things were going smoothly. Even in bed they were compatible.

"The boss... he likes to ride the trends," Kevin explained, as he ordered a third drink. "Before the vampires came out, it was called the Gloomy Rose. We had poetry readings every friday, and people would come up to read badly rhymed haikus about the futility of life."

"Sounds dreadful," Lance deadpanned, but Kevin could hear the hidden laughter.

"Before that, it was a biker-bar. We had to clean up a lot of broken bottles every night at closing time... and so on. Once the vampire lifestyle is out of fashion, the Bloody Rose will change again. You can bet on that."

"Change is good," Lance agreed, watching Kevin intently. It was the only time when Kevin was nervous around Lance. When the green eyes of his lover focused solely on him, and he seemed to be reading his mind. "Stagnation kills. And, according to a friend of mine, can be very boring."

"Not that you know anything about boredom," Kevin answered, winking. It was true. In just two weeks, Lance had showed him that he had a very playful and experimenting side. It was hidden behind the good guy facade, but once they were alone in a room, all masks came off.

The first time they had slept together, just five days after their first meeting, Kevin had been a little nervous. He had very specific rules when it came to sex, and most of his one night stands were unable to understand them. It broke the illusion for them, and Kevin ended up feeling used.

They were simple rules: No kissing under the chin or above the collarbone. No biting. Always use protection.

The last one was mere common sense. When blood could carry fatal diseases, it was smart to protect yourself. And, no matter what legends said, vampires could get AIDS, and it got ugly both for the vampire and for its victim.

Lance had agreed, and added one small rule of his own: no falling asleep together. It hurt Kevin a little, but since he was used to sleeping during the day and still had no idea of what Lance did for a job, he could live with it.

It was not the perfect set up, but it was good enough for him.

They had settled into a routine. Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays, Lance would come to the Bloody Rose, and wait patiently for Kevin to finish his turn. Sometimes, he was alone, and had to maneuver his way around the usual patrons. Kevin had been worried at first, remembering the day they had met, but the truth was that Lance was very capable to keep all the v-curious, wannabes and stalkers at bay.

"I just tell them that my boyfriend's the barman," Lance explained, when Kevin asked about it. "I find that no one wants to risk getting poison in their drinks."

"I wouldn't be that obvious," Kevin laughed, hugging Lance. "I would ask the chef to do something to their chips... something that couldn't be traced back to me."

There had been times when Lance had been accompanied by his friends. The tall guy with the dyed hair, a thin man who dressed in very bright clothing and seemed capable of charming the pants off of anyone, a younger man, clean shaven, who exuded security and never left alone, and a shorter, very active man who usually got lost in the dancing room. Kevin didn't know their names, and had never asked why none of them waited for Lance. Once or twice, he had seen them leave with a dangerous partner, one of the very real vampires who did stalk the Bloody Rose on occasion, but when he had told Lance that, Lance had shrugged his concern away.

"The guys can take care of themselves," Lance explained, and then he had keeled in front of Kevin, opening his fly with lightning quick fingers and all concern for anything outside their bedroom had fled Kevin's mind.

Fridays and Sundays, they would meet as soon as the sun set. Sometimes, they met outside the sports bar where they had had their first date, sometimes somewhere else. It didn't matter, as every night ended in the same place: Kevin's apartment, more precisely, Kevin's room.  
Sometimes, Kevin wondered why they bothered with the drinks. Conversation was nice, but sometimes, they also talked after sex, before Lance went to have a shower and left before sunrise, before Kevin fell asleep.

It was a good routine, and Kevin didn't understand why Lance wanted to ruin it.

* * *

"I love you," Lance repeated, as if Kevin hadn't heard the first time. "That's what I wanted to tell you. I know it might be a surprise, but I needed you to know."

"You don't love me," Kevin shook his head, walking away from the bed. This was wrong, and it just reminded him why he had never wanted a second date with anyone, not after the mess that had been Kristen. "You just think you do."

Lance raised his eyebrow, amused. It made Kevin a little nervous, since most people, normal people, tended to take offense when they were told that their feelings were a lie. But Lance didn't seem angry, didn't even seem put off by Kevin's denial. If anything, he seemed more interested.

"Explain that," Lance said, sitting down on Kevin's bed. His shirt was unbuttoned, making him look even more sexy than usual, and Kevin wished he could turn back time to before the moment where Lance had said those terrible words, so they could go on as every night.

“We’ve been only together for three months, Lance, it’s not enough to fall in love with someone,” Kevin leaned against the window, trying not to look at Lance's face. Instead, he focused in the darkness of the night, wondering why this time it was so hard for him to break things off. Before, whenever someone said those dreaded words to him, it was easy to let them go. There were no feelings involved at all. "You don't really know me."

"I know you better than you think," Lance said, and there was a strange edge in his voice, one Kevin had never heard before. "And three months is more than enough time. Have you never heard of love at first sight?"

"We both know that's a lie," Kevin shook his head. "That's not love, that's lust. And for what? For the image of a dark and broody creature of the night. No thanks."

At that, Lance laughed, making Kevin's heart lurch painfully. He was never going to hear that laugh again.

"Kevin, I don't know how you missed this, but I don't really go for the faux-vampire act. There's a reason why you didn't see me at the Bloody Rose before the night we met. It's not really my scene," Lance said, getting up from the bed and walking towards him, his green eyes shining. "And you don't either; you have made it very clear. You're not one of those wannabes."

Kevin sighed. Here it came, the hardest part. He had wanted to believe Lance would be different, that he wouldn't go by the appearances and the legends. But his blond lover was like everyone else. It had just taken Kevin a little longer to realize it.

"I'm not a vampire, Lance," he said, carefully. "I just work nights, that's why I never go out during the day. I'm tired, and I need to rest. And I will grow old and die, so any fantasies of forever will be broken. You should go away now."

As he spoke, he closed his eyes. He didn't want to see Lance leave, if he was honest to himself. But he remembered the one time that he had tried to believe that he was being loved by who he was and not because for some fucked up causality of fate he had the exact looks that people usually associated with vampires. No one ever believed him when he said he was human.

"I know you're not a vampire," Lance said, surprisingly close. Kevin opened his eyes to find himself face to face with his lover. They were close enough to touch. "I've known that since the night we met. Vampires hunt in nightclubs, not serve as bartenders."

"You would've surprised to know how many people think that a bartender is the perfect hunter," Kevin allowed himself to say. He didn't want to hope that Lance was saying the truth, didn't want to set himself up with false hope.

“Not really,” Lance licked his lips, making Kevin even more nervous. “It would be very suspicious for a lot of people if someone had such a static hunting ground. Too many dead bodies, too many questions, and next thing you know, you’ve got hunters and daywalkers after you.”

“What are daywalkers?” Kevin asked, swallowing. For the first time in his life, he felt as if he was the prey and not the hunter.

“Not the question you should be asking, Kev,” Lance smile grew wider, as he embraced Kevin. He didn’t move away. The whole night was not going the way he was expecting. He had expected to end up with a broken heart, not wondering why Lance was still looking at him as if he was the first meal in a five dish course.

“What should I be asking?” Kevin repeated. Lance looked so different now, nothing like the sort of lost lamb he had met at the Bloody Rose so many months ago.

“How did you know I wasn’t a vampire, Lance?” Lance said, with a mocking voice. As if he was explaining something really obvious to a small child. “How do you know so much about hunting grounds? Why did you accept my rule of no neck biting? How come I have never seen you before sundown?”

“Ah, all those are very good questions,” Kevin stammered. “I think I know the answer…”

“Do you?” Lance’s breath felt too close to neck, and Kevin shivered. He was scared, but there was something else. Something he really didn’t want to analyze very closely.

“*You* are the vampire,” Kevin whispered. “You and your friends. You were hunting that night, and now, you’re going to kill me.”

“Maybe,” Lance said, chuckling against Kevin’s neck. “I already told you, I love you.”

“That’s not an answer,” Kevin managed to say. Maybe it was being close to death, but he was starting to crave that contact. He actually wanted Lance to bite him.

“Do you love me?” Lance asked, and before Kevin could answer, he felt the fangs pierce his skin.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Straight Through My Heart (The Can't Stop The Bleeding Mix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/189675) by [Erika (Aeiouna)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeiouna/pseuds/Erika)




End file.
